by Sara Orwig
“That isn’t why I showed it to you,” she said quietly. “McKissick did it because I wouldn’t do something he wanted. He told me it was just a lesson, to show me what he would do to my face and the rest of my body if I didn’t do what he wanted.”
Dan frowned, staring at her. “You didn’t go to the law?”
She gave him a mocking look and poured another drink. “Do you really think a woman like me can go to the alcalde to complain about what a man does?”
“No, I suppose not.”
“I’m not the only one he’s hurt around here. He’s mean and he likes to be mean. Some men are mean for a reason. McKissick is just mean to torment people. And he hates Indians.”
Dan looked into her eyes. “I know that. I’m a halfbreed.” He wondered how much she would talk. “I work for Pinkerton’s. If anyone asks, you can tell them that I told you I was on my way to California to hunt down a man for the agency, but I met the Kearneys and decided I want to settle here. I’m quitting Pinkerton’s.”
She laughed. “So you want that spread around town. I can do that. It can be all over San Antonio by tomorrow night.”
“That’s the best news I’ve had all day,” he said, pouring another drink, thinking about the men working for Eb who had heard Rachel accuse him of being with Pinkerton’s. Perhaps this would end their curiosity when word got around.
Dan drank the amber whiskey swiftly, set down the glass, and reached for Golda, pulling her to him to kiss her long and hard. Finally he released her.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out cash to place it on the table. “Thanks for the drink and the conversation. I have to go write my resignation, decide what I’ll do now.”
“Good luck.”
“Thanks.” He turned and left, striding across the street to the hotel, taking a room and going upstairs. He moved across the darkened room to the window to stare down at people on the street. He thought about the scar along Golda’s side. He knotted his fist. There weren’t enough men to protect Rachel and Abby from McKissick and his men. He needed to get back out there. Suddenly he jammed his hat on his head and strode toward the door.
Chapter 20
In early morning after cooking breakfast for the men and cleaning afterwards, Rachel told Abby she was going to get ready to go to town. Gathering her things from the wagon, she sauntered to the creek, moving away from everyone where she could have privacy.
As she walked beneath the shade of the trees, two jays flew out of a tree ahead. She watched them go, realizing there weren’t any birds around now and it was still. She glanced all around, the hairs on the nape of her neck rising. She looked around, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. She carried the revolver and her fingers tightened around the grip.
She didn’t hear a sound except the stream where water splashed on rocks. She moved more cautiously, wondering whether she should go back.
Without any noise a shadow shifted and Dan stepped in front of her, blocking her path. Her heart thudded violently against her ribcage as she looked up at him.
While emotions stormed in her, she yanked up the revolver. He stood still without attempting to take it from her. “I want to talk to you.”
“I told you not to come back. I could shoot you right now.” He stood with his feet planted slightly apart, arms at his side, the sleeves of the blue chambray shirt rolled back. He looked relaxed and determined and she wondered how long she could hold out against him.
“I’m not going to arrest your pa,” Dan said quietly. The words carried hope, yet she wouldn’t expect him to say anything else. Everything inside her cried out to believe him and lower the revolver.
“I want to talk to you. Put the gun down, Rachel.”
“Are you with Pinkerton’s?” she asked, wanting to know the truth, to see what he would admit to her.
“Yes, I am. I was hired to find Peter Benton.”
Rachel closed her eyes a moment. She had suspected it since Fort Worth, but it still hurt to hear him say he was after Pa. It made it more real and more threatening to her.
She felt his fingers close around hers, strong and warm and sure. She couldn’t fight him any longer and let him take the revolver from her hand. She looked up at him, because now he leaned close to her, his dark eyes filled with a raw need and regret. For an instant she wanted to throw herself into his arms and cling to him and believe that he wasn’t going to arrest Pa.
Instead she drew herself up. “Go ahead. I want you to tell me everything,” she said, stepping back.
“Let’s go where you can sit down while we talk,” he said quietly, taking her arm.
Her skin felt sensitive to the merest brush against him. She glanced up at him as he walked beside her. His features still held that dangerous, dark look, a somber expression caused by the rugged planes of his face, the set of his mouth.
They came to the clearing where she had sat and talked with Pa. When she sat down on a stump, Dan tossed aside his black hat and faced her. “I was hired by Pinkerton’s and asked to go to Vicksburg to talk to the brother, Luther Eubanks. Luther Eubanks told me a little about your family. I thought I picked up the trail out of Vicksburg just across the river near Mound. I’d caught up with you before Fort Worth, but no one had mentioned a married daughter or that Peter Benton had a granddaughter. So I waited to see.”
“And that’s why you wanted to ride with us,” she said, anger and hurt growing as she thought about his early offer of help.
“Yes, it is,” he replied, looking her in the eye. “And I’ll admit there have been times I was on the verge of arresting your pa, because I knew I had the right family long before we reached San Antonio.”
“Then why did you wait?”
“Why do you think?” he asked quietly, his dark gaze seeming to bore into her, his longing for her unmistakable. “And after we made love, I knew I could never arrest him.”
She moved impatiently, standing up and turning her back on him. “I don’t believe you. I think you want me, but I think the time will come when you’ll turn him in.” She spun around. “If you were telling the truth, how would you convince Pinkerton’s that you haven’t been following him?”
He looked down, and she saw she was right. “I don’t want to see you or talk to you,” she said, fighting back tears. “If you try to come arrest Pa, we’ll fight you.”
Dan’s dark eyes danced with anger and with desire as he looked at her. Her pulse raced as she glared at him, looking into eyes that erased any doubt that he wanted her.
“I swear I won’t turn your pa in to anyone, not today or tomorrow or any time in the future.”
She drew a deep breath, relief surging, yet her joy and relief were tempered by reality. “You may not want to turn him in, but you’ve already said Pinkerton’s will send someone else if you don’t.”
“Now listen to me—”
“I did! You’ll take what you want from me and then you’ll arrest Pa. All that’s held you back is your wanting me—”
In two long strides he crossed the clearing to pull her up, his fingers tight on her arms as he held her, his face stormy. “I want you. And I waited because I wanted you, but now that we’ve made love, you’re like air and sunshine—I can’t do without you. I won’t arrest your pa!”
“Not now,” she protested, fear still overriding all else, but his words made her heart pound violently, words that she wouldn’t forget, “but someday you’ll—”
“Not now, not anytime! I want you, Rachel. And loving you just made me want you more!” His dark eyes were fiery, their message as convincing as his words. She burned with desire for him, her body awakened now to love, her flesh eager, her heart aching with longing for him.
Dan felt the inner battle with all his principles, his conscience, seeing the disbelief in her eyes. “I’ve never gone back on a Pinkerton assignment before,” he said gruffly, knowing his life was changing course as if the world were tilting in another direction and would never be the same. “If
the truth comes out, I’ll be considered a cohort of your pa and on the wrong side of the law for not turning him in—” He paused, feeling overwhelmed by need for her. He groaned, his head coming down, his mouth slanting over hers and opening her lips.
He wanted to taste and touch and know this woman who was so special to him, to possess her until she was part of him. And with each kiss and stroke, he knew he was silently promising her he would save her father—a task that might prove impossible.
Now that he had found her, he couldn’t bear to lose her, yet with the law after Eb, there would be no peace or certainty in Rachel’s life. Dan groaned again, thought flitting away as he framed her face and gazed into her green eyes, brushing light kisses over her soft skin. “Lord, how I need you!”
Torn between trusting him or staying aloof from him, she was lost. She longed for him to be telling her the truth, yet could she trust him? As he kissed her, suspicion and caution vanished. She melted against him while his strong arms banded her and he pulled her up tightly against him.
Dan felt as if her soft contours fit all the hard planes of his body, a softness he ached for and he cupped her bottom to pull her up more intimately against him. Consumed with need, knowing each time with her could easily be the last, he caressed her, memorizing textures and shape, wanting all the memories he could store of her because soon that might be all he had because she was so fiercely protective of her family that she could shut him out of her world.
He bent his head, taking her mouth with a hungry savagery while thought vanished. He had relinquished principles, purpose, goals for this woman who wrapped her arms around his neck as if there was an answering need in her for him.
At the possibility, his heart pounded as wildly as if he had run miles. His hands slid up her rounded contours, tracing the narrow indention of her waist, up to the fullness of her breast, the soft weight that made him throb with need.
“Rachel,” he whispered hoarsely, showering kisses on her throat. “I need you.”
The words were caresses to her heart. She ran her hands across his shoulders, knowing they hadn’t solved anything, yet she wanted his loving desperately.
Dan cupped her full breasts, caressing her through the cotton shirt, pushing it away as he bent to kiss her, her skin an incredible softness beneath his tongue. He felt a shudder run through her slender body and she pushed slightly against him, her hands fumbling his belt buckle. He helped her, tugging it away, finally releasing her, gazing at her while his blood pounded hotly through his body and he yanked free the buttons to step out of his pants.
He tossed his shirt away, his fingers tangling with her shift and in one swift tug he yanked it over her head and threw it down. Sunlight and shadow played on her flawless pale skin, such a contrast to his hands that were dark shadows moving over her. She locked her fingers on his arms and closed her eyes, gasping with pleasure as he caressed the tip of her breast, rubbing his thumb across her.
He bent to take her breast in his mouth, his tongue flicking over her nipple. He peeled away the rest of her clothes until her body was bare to him.
Need for her burned through Dan like a fire on a windy plain. He had dreamed of her every night, thought about her during the days. Her body was silken lush curves, a flame that he needed as much as he needed to breathe.
Pushing her down on the grass, he moved between her legs, stroking her pale thighs as she looked up at him with green eyes that seared him. She touched his shaft and he drew a ragged breath, feeling as if he would burst with wanting this woman who had become more important than life to him.
Watching her, his pulse drumming so loudly all other sounds were gone, he lowered himself, entering her, feeling her envelope him, her arms and legs holding him tightly.
Rachel arched to meet him, feeling the hard penetration, his strong body pining her down as they moved and she wound her long legs around him. As she clung to him, his shaft filled her. An exquisite torment, she bucked beneath him, moving with him, feeling his control go.
Wanting to prolong the moments when she was his, Dan tried to slow, but her hips were moving wildly beneath him, her cries carrying over his roaring pulse. He wanted to hold her—forever his. A primitive force tore at him, a driving need to take all she was giving and send his seed deep within her, to make her his woman whatever the future held. He moved wildly with her, carrying her with him to a frenzied brink and then bursting over.
“My Rachel!” he ground out the words, knowing if for only this moment in time, she was his completely.
Rachel clung to him, feeling his muscles clench, the rippling shudders of release tear through him as she arched beneath him. Dazed, oblivious to everything except the piercing rapture, she moved with him.
As if coming up from depths of darkness, awareness returned to her. Beneath her hands his body was hot, sweat beading him. She moved more languidly with him, surcease slowing them. They were tangled together, his arms sliding beneath her as he looked down at her. He bent his head to kiss her long and passionately.
He showered kisses on her, trailing them to her ear, her throat. “I wouldn’t hurt you. I won’t ever arrest your father. I’ve thought about it for days and finally when we loved before, I knew I couldn’t arrest him. I swear to you, Rachel, I won’t turn him in.”
She stroked his cheek, feeling loved, yet hurting because he only solved one problem. Pinkerton’s would still come after Pa.
He rolled over, keeping her against him, holding her tightly as he stroked damp hair away from her face. “I had to talk to you.” He kissed her, a kiss that changed, his tongue going deep into her mouth as she clung to him and returned his kiss.
“Dan, someone could look for me.”
He stared at her, his dark eyes sending their own messages of love that made her tighten her arms around him and kiss his chest, marveling in the wonders of his body, the hard planes that could be such a sweet torment against her flesh.
Finally he shifted away and stood up. He picked her up and strode into the creek, cold water splashing over her heated body. He sat down in shallow water, holding her and kissing her.
She wiggled away and splashed in the water, letting it clean and cool her. She slanted him a look and Dan drew a deep breath.
As his gaze ran over her slender, pale body, the full curves of her soft breasts, he was shocked to feel his body respond. He wanted her again. Her green eyes were filled with speculation, silvery drops of water on her lashes. Her pale skin was covered by a sheen of water, the rosy tips of her breasts thrusting at him, distracting him from any logic or thoughts about the future.
“Now can we talk about Pa?”
He arched his brow, aching for her, knowing they had solved very little in the past few minutes other than she would no longer hold him at gunpoint. She stood up, water splashing around her as she rushed out of the creek. Her bottom jiggled, sunlight playing over her skin. She picked up the torn shift and began to dry quickly.
He stood up and walked out after her. She looked at him, her gaze raking over him. He was aroused, wanting her again. Inhaling deeply, she tossed his pants and shirt at him.
“We need to talk.”
Dan caught the clothes, still watching her, torn between talking because he needed to straighten things out with her, and wanting to pull her down and love her again. Why was she so different from all other women? He had known beautiful women; Solange had been beautiful and he had loved her wildly, but he didn’t remember this completion that Rachel gave him as if he had been walking through life only half-alive.
Rachel turned her back, dressing swiftly, her pulse racing, because Dan muddled her thoughts. He was aroused, ready to love again, his body dark except for a narrow strip across his groin where he had worn the breechclout. He was wet, his black hair hanging in strands, and the sight of him made her heart pound.
After running him off at gunpoint, she would have to explain to everyone why she was allowing him back. He complicated her life. She wanted to h
ear what he had to say about Pa, but when she looked into his dark eyes or looked at his virile body, thoughts jumbled and fled.
She turned around to find him watching her. He wore pants and his boots, his damp shirt hanging on a tree branch, his hat on the ground. While he watched her, he leaned one long arm against the tree.
“Now tell me what you plan to do about Pa,” she said quietly.
“I have to figure out what to report to Pinkerton’s. You’re Mary Benton, aren’t you?”
“Mary Rachel Benton. We took our middle names. Emma Abigail Benton. By now, I’m accustomed to Rachel. It fits with our life here.”
He slanted his head to study her. “What happened, Rachel, back there in Vicksburg? As long as I’ve known Eb, in desperate moments on the trail and in moments around a campfire, I can’t see a man who would murder another man over a discussion of taxes.” He crossed to her, tilting up her face, his dark eyes searching hers. “Did you kill Luther Eubanks?”
She gazed up at him, understanding why he was asking. She was the one who carried a rifle most of the time, not Pa. She moved away, her back turned as she remembered Vicksburg and their desperate circumstances after the war.
“We lost everything except the house and land. Pa was a cotton planter and the cotton was gone. Everything was gone. We could barely eke out enough in a vegetable garden to get along and for a time we had my cousin Caroline, Lissa’s mother, with us. The Eubanks were just trash. They stole and were dishonest before the war. I don’t know what they did during the war, but as soon as it was over they began to acquire land and money and power. Luther Eubanks is the oldest—I think he’s in his late forties and his wife and children disappeared during the war.”
Rachel turned around to face Dan. “Alvin Eubanks was in his thirties and his family disappeared as well. No one knows what happened to them. Rumors floated around that they ran away from the Eubanks and everyone could believe that because Luther beat Lila Jean. There were rumors the Eubank brothers sold their families to sailors to take to other countries and sell. There were rumors their families were murdered. No one knew. They just were gone and Luther had a new wife who was in her twenties and pretty, but they say she worked in a sporting house during the war. They were pure trash, all of them.”